Chapter & VerseBookshop and café · PenarthPenarth

The café

The menu, and no time limit.

Ten tables at the back of the shop and two in the window. Beans from a Cardiff roaster, cakes from a baker on Plymouth Road who delivers at eight, soup and toasties from noon to half past two, loose-leaf tea, and a hot chocolate the children approve of. Sit with a book you have not bought for as long as you like; nobody will move you on.

A young barista in a canvas apron making a flat white at a small café counter inside a bookshop, cakes under a glass dome, shelves of books behind

The board

Café prices include VAT. Cakes change daily; the lemon drizzle has a following.

Drinks

  • Flat white, latte, cappuccinoOat and soya for nothing extra£3.20
  • Espresso, doubleBeans from a Cardiff roaster£2.40
  • Filter coffeeA different bean each week£2.60
  • Loose-leaf tea, a potSix to choose from£2.40
  • Hot chocolateWith a marshmallow if you ask£3.40
  • BabyccinoWith a biscuitFree

Cake and lunch

  • Cake, a sliceFrom a Penarth baker; two gluten-free a day, one vegan£3.80
  • Welsh cakes, twoMade on the griddle on Saturdays£2.20
  • Soup and breadNoon to half past two£5.50
  • A toastieThree a week; the cheese and leek is permanent£6.50
  • Friday quiche with saladFridays only£7.50
  • Soup, toastie and a filterThe lunch deal£10.50

The rules, such as they are

Read what you like, stay as long as you like, and the dog can come.

The tables are for reading, working, meeting, and the book clubs on their evenings. We do not have wifi because people asked us not to, and we do not have a time limit because we have never needed one. Dogs are welcome in the café and on the ground floor with a bowl by the door; the upstairs is carpet and books and we ask them to wait. Takeaway in a cup you bring or a compostable one; the toasties travel badly and we say so.

  • Open 9am to 5pm, Sunday 10am to 3:30pm; an hour before the shop closes
  • Two gluten-free cakes and one vegan, every day
  • The lunch deal, noon to half past two: soup, a toastie and a filter, £10.50
An open paperback on a small wooden café table beside a flat white and a slice of cake, rain on the bookshop window behind

Questions about the café

Can I work from the café?

Yes, on a laptop or a notebook, for as long as you like. No wifi, which is either the problem or the point.

Do you do takeaway?

Yes, in a cup you bring or a compostable one, and cake in a paper bag. The toasties travel badly and we say so.

Hire the café for an evening.

Book launches, a birthday with a reading, a club that needs a room: the shop and café can be hired for a private evening from £150, with the counter open and the shelves to browse. Email with the date and the number, and we will say what is possible.

Order a bookWhat is on